Safety codes in many municipal jurisdictions often require the provision of sufficient and suitable lighting in buildings to ensure the reasonable safety of persons entering and exiting the buildings. This includes a requirement to provide emergency lighting to enable persons to escape from buildings when mains power is not available.
Emergency lighting systems commonly include a power backup device that is designated to provide backup power in the event of a mains power outage. Light fixtures in those systems are often wired to the power backup device and the power grid at the same in time. However, because a single power backup device can be used to power multiple light fixtures, some lighting systems include lengthy wire runs between their light fixtures and their power backup device. Having lengthy wire runs can be problematic in instances in which pulse-width modulated (PWM) signals are used to drive the light fixtures. In such instances, the wires can become a source of parasitic inductance, which can cause voltage spikes and ringing. Accordingly, the need exists for improved lighting system designs that avoid the generation of large amounts of parasitic inductance.